POC president Ricky Vargas shakes hands with IOC chief Thomas Bach during his visit to the OIC headquarters in Laussane, Switzerland. Looking on are POC secretary general Patrick Gregorio and IOC representative to the Philippines Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski.

PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee (POC) chief Ricky Vargas had his first audience with International Olympic Committee (POC) president Thomas Bach which highlighted his two-day visit at the IOC office in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Vargas met with Bach for 45 minutes as the two talked about the Olympic movement, their respective jobs as heads of an Olympic body, and sports in general.

“He gave me a lot of pointers, foremost of which was to enjoy my job,” recalled Vargas of his conversation with Bach, the 64-year-old German lawyer and Olympian fencer, who has been IOC president since 20013.

“He also talked of the values of collaboration, getting engaged, friendship, and building relations.”

Vargas was accompanied by POC secretary general Patrick Gregorio and IOC representative to the Philippines Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski.

The three Filipino officials also met with Jerome Polvey (Head of Institutional Relations and Governance & NOC Relations), Olivier Niamkey (Head of Athletes Unit & Relations with OCA and Asian NOCs), and Director General Pete Miro.

For his part, Gregorio said they had very informative discussions with the other IOC officials, notably with lawyer Polvey who showed deep knowledge of the developments in POC and oriented them on “responsible autonomy, NOC governance, and the national players rule."

Vargas and Gregorio, president and vice-president respectively of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP), were also briefed by Bach on developments in AIBA, the international boxing federation.

POC president Ricky Vargas shakes hands with IOC chief Thomas Bach during his visit to the OIC headquarters in Laussane, Switzerland. Looking on are POC secretary general Patrick Gregorio and IOC representative to the Philippines Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski.

This article originally appeared onTopgear.com.
Minor edits have been made by the TopGear.com.ph editors.